In Times Such as These
by Conteuse Vivante
Summary: Thoughts of four characters at the exact same point in a troubling time. *Complete* Rated on the side of caution.
1. And so it begins

Disclaimer: If you read a name and a little light bulb goes off in your head saying "Haven't I seen this somewhere before?" the odds are that it belongs to the very talented J.K. Rowling. The concept is my own, the characters and setting are hers. Don't sue.  
  
AN: The chapters will be fairly short (Read: Already written). This is my first attempt at this and I don't want to bite off more than I can chew.  
  
Set the Scene: It is the end of Harry, Ron and Hermione's seventh year at Hogwarts. Voldemort has returned to full power and will be attempting to take the school tonight. The three friends know this. They are walking across the Hogwarts grounds just before sunset as Albus Dumbledore watches them from above. These are the thoughts of each person present at the exact same point in time. 


	2. Harry

AN: Thanks to Never again for my first review. As requested, here's the first part of the actual story. Enjoy! SlV  
  
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The Boy Who Lived  
  
Tonight. That's all I've thought about, all I've been able to think about ever since I knew. Dumbledore knows, he must know. He knows how I feel; he knows that I'll be there tonight. Young or not, experienced or not, scared or not. And I am scared, I'll admit it. Tonight, the.the.he who killed my parents and so many others will be in power again. Tonight I will either die in the same way as my parents or somehow revenge their deaths. Not reverse, they won't come back, but revenge, and the match will be nearly even. That bloody murderer! It's not right - it's not fair! I will face him and I will defeat him. I have to. Do Hermione and Ron know I wonder? They must, they know me so well. Seven years we've been together and it all comes down to tonight. They know that they don't have to be there tonight, that it's not their fight, but we all know that they'll be there anyway. Standing beside me, making it their fight too. And I'll be happier than I would be if we were all safe in the common rooms. Standing with friends, people who care about me. Ron and Hermione and Professor Dumbledore and Sirius. All there with me. Ending what Voldemort's been trying to do since before I was born. Since that night. He's back and this time I will finish him. This is it. Tonightonightonight.. 


	3. Ron

The Faithful Friend  
  
I must be cracked. Am I just going for the attention? Because I can't let Harry down? Because I can't let Hermione go so that I may never see her again? Blast Weasley, why can't you just tell the girl how you feel! This may be you last chance. "Hi Hermione, I just thought I should tell you that I've been half in love with you since fourth year. Just thought you should know in case we don't make it through this. Bye then." No, that's not fair to her, she has too much on her mind already. What with trying to pretend to the rest of the school that everything is okay and trying to keep Harry from going mad.Bloody hell, what if she and Harry die tonight but somehow I get through to see the sun rise tomorrow. I'd have to kill myself. Those two are my life. They would go out doing something amazing and outstanding and wonderful.and I would go out in their shadow. The story of our years at Hogwarts. "Head Girl - top of the year, and Quidditch captain. And their friend; you know, the Weasley boy with all the great brothers. He's always with those two, a nice boy but nothing really outstanding about him. Now his brother Bill." The story of my life: Either its not been good enough or its been done before. Well tonight for the first time in my life, I'm going to do something no Weasley has done before. Even if I fail miserably, I'll finally be remembered separate from my famous brothers. That settles it; I've got to tell Hermione before tonight. Tonightonightonight.. 


	4. Hermione

The Girl Who Loved Them  
  
My boys. My friends. My brothers I never had. Always trying to protect me even though I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself. I don't mind though when they do that, because I know then that they love me the way I love them. Harry who's gotten more and more depressed since he heard about this; and Ron who still tries to be so cheerful. I'd die for either of them and they know it. Harry didn't even have to tell me that I didn't have to be there tonight. He knew I'd be there, standing up for him the same as I did in first year, covering up about that troll. If only I knew then what I do now: that trolls were going to be the least of the problems we'd face . . . No, even with what I know now I wouldn't have changed a thing. Not the way I helped them, covered for them, stuck my neck out for them, at different times fell in and out of love and hate with them. Krum had nothing on the way Harry used to make me almost cry when he was so determined to put everyone else before himself, even if it would turn out to be the wrong choice. And Ron, for all our fights, no one could ever make me laugh like he could. I wouldn't have given up friendship with either of them for all the magic in Hogwarts. Fitting how we're going to do this together, like the three musketeers. If I come through tonight alive I must read that book again. A reminder of what I once had. Because after tonight nothing will be the same. Seven years of friendship comes to this. All for one and one for all. Tonightonightonight . . . 


	5. Albus

The Protector  
  
At least he's with friends. He hasn't isolated himself wondering and raging about it. He knows that I know; perhaps I should speak with him about it. Perhaps I should have Sirius speak with him. I never once thought that I would become a party in something like this . . . not even when he first came to the school. The young man is more than I gave him credit for. He has proven that many times already. Tonight will be the most trying test that he has ever had to face. I do not know what he will do - that I cannot guess, but I believe that to him this is an opportunity to avenge his parents' deaths. How peaceful he looks walking with Master Weasley and Miss Granger. He gives no indication of what he must be feeling. Because he knows, he must know that tonight will be our last chance to defeat Voldemort or have both worlds come under his thumb for a reign of terror. The difficulty is, he doesn't know that in the aftermath of tonight, only one of them will stand to see in the coming years. After seventeen years, what was started must now be ended. The Boy Who Lived must either finish off the one who has hunted him since he was an infant or die trying. Because when everything else is done tonight, there is only one that can strike the Dark Lord's killing blow. Good luck Harry. God bless you. Tonightonightonight . . . .  
  
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Author's Note: I originally wrote this to have four chapters: one for each of the characters' thoughts. I think now that I might add one more just to provide a more concrete ending. It might take a while though because I have exams right now. I have time next week so check back then. SlV 


	6. And here it ends

Yes!! I did it . . .I finally got this damn chapter written and up! Computer problems, time spent on studying . . .But we won't go into that. Anyway. This turned out to be a little longer than expected but hey, once you break writer's block you let the juices flow where they may. I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it. Please leave a review on your way out. Thanks. SlV  
  
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The One Who Would Destroy Them  
  
Fools! Who were they to take on the most powerful Dark Wizard in an age? Not even their spirit could overcome my trained and readied forces. The wizarding world is free at last of the scourge of that Muggle-loving Albus Dumbledore. And I . . .I am free of the stigma of being defeated by an infant. For now that boy is dead, killed by my own hand when he was able to defend himself. And one by one, I will now be able to hunt down any wizard cowardly enough to follow these two. I have been walking for an hour or so, appreciating the full extent of what I have accomplished. Now back at my starting point, I take a fresh look at the bodies strewn around and savour the memories of how each of these last lives that opposed me came to an end. In a bitter irony, the tables were turned against Black, the escaped prisoner, whom the world once thought had aligned with me. Wormtail, in the heat of the battle forgot my instructions that Potter must be kept alive and sent the Killing Curse in his direction. Fortune smiled upon Wormtail though, for Black threw himself in front of his godson and was killed instead. The redheaded boy and the Mudblood girl were next to fall. I made sure Harry watched his friends die. I had Lucius put the boy under the Imperius curse to make him perform Cruciatus on the Mudblood. After she was nearly dead, I removed the curse from the boy so he would have his full senses about him when he stood helpless and watched the girl he loved murdered by his father's worst enemy. I could tell that he loved her by the way he dropped to his knees when it became clear what he had done; by the blind rage that came over him as she was killed. Destruction of the heart was greater than any torture I could have put the boy under, so I gave Lucius the honour of killing him also. I believe Malfoy enjoyed being the death of others' children after his own son was so brutally taken down in that Ministry raid. Then it was time. Time to remove that crackpot old fool, that blemish upon the race of wizard, who had so foolishly worked against me for years. We could have been great and terrible, Dumbledore and I. If we had stood together we would have been unstoppable. But he chose to work against me and he now lies dead among the ruins of the place where he taught more promising young people to hate me. He died honourably, did Albus, in a duel with me. No matter that I killed him as he bowed to me. The Mudbloods must have dulled his wits. At last the boy. The one that all Death Eaters had been ordered not to kill. The one who nearly killed me. Harry. He had watched all of his friends, all of the people who had loved and protected him die, and now he knew that his turn had come. He stood before me, anger and hate burning in his green eyes still, but deadened with fear and the logic that reminded him of his odds. I could see in his face the prayer for a chance to be lucky twice. That chance did not come. He duelled well. I could not bring myself to kill him as I had Dumbledore, for I had too much respect for him. It seemed a shame for him to come so far and do so well, and then lose his wand as he tripped over the body of his godfather while duelling, but fate allows these things to happen. Fate let Harry die by my wand, brother to his, in the same manner as his parents. Fate stripped the wizarding world of its last hero of that era. A new age has come. An age where wizards will bring fear and awe to the hearts of Muggles. An age where no Muggle-born can be trained as a wizard. An age where the world will bow down to my power. And every year on this date, my followers will look back upon tonight and smile at how it came about. Tonightonightonight . . . 


End file.
